The Importance of Saying "Thank You"

Being that it’s the Holiday season, it’s important to take stock of the people that we’re thankful for. Are they the people in your family that you’ve grown up with or your hometown friends that you can reminisce about high school antics? Are they the people at your work that consistently make your life easier? Who ever you’re thankful for most in this life, it’s important that you let them know. Not only is this just a nice thing to do, studies have shown that expressing gratitude towards others for the things that they’ve done for you actually boosts their self worth.

The study, a portion of “Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan” by Francesca Gino, discusses the remarkable effect that gratitude has on boosting self worth, helpfulness and workplace productivity. Participants were asked to give feedback on an imaginary student’s cover letter (which was pretty awful) and then received a reply email from “Eric” which was either appreciative or curt. The group that received the appreciative were twice as likely to report a greater feeling of self worth and also twice as likely to give feedback on another imaginary student’s cover letter a few weeks later.

When people know that you appreciate what they do for you, they are far more happy doing it.